Thermometer spoon



Mln-3h24 1973-6. I I KJ. n 1 v THERMOMETER SPOON I KAEL d. MOA/RAD Patented Mar. 24, 1936 UNITED STATES Toi-Fica THERMOMETER SPOON Karl J. Monrad,rLittle Falls,`N. Y. Application May 2, 1932, serial Nt. 608,778 2 claims. (o1. 73-52) 'I'his invention relates to thermometers and has for its principal object the provision of a thermometer built in theshape of a spoon.

An important feature of the present invention consists in the provision of a spoon having in its bowl the bulb of a thermometer and having along its stem graduations sothat the temperature of the material in the vbowl can be determined by the passage of the mercury or other uid in the capillarytube in the stern.

An additional object of the present' invention consists in the. provision of a spoon having a thermometer bulb in the-bowl of the spoon and forming the ordinary thermometer 'stem soV as to be the stem of the spoon and providing a.

handle of non-heat-conducting material such, for ex ample,aswood.` y j K Many times itis desired to' take'the temperature of a small quantity of a fluid, for example,

whexrxthereisa large quantity of the uidat a known temperature and avery small portionV is desired at a lower temperature. The small quantity is removed in a spoon but the quantity is so small that it isnot possible to determine the rate of lowering of the temperature, or, what is the same thing, it is Vnot possible to determine when this'smaller temperature. l

My invention contemplates the provision of a thermometer which can measure the heat of the small quantity inV the' spoon or equally well the heat in the larger body, the latter merely by immersing the bowl of the 'spoon` in the liquid just \as an ordinary thermometer is used.v I .in-

tend that the spoon be made so sturdythat 'it' can be used Afor stirring and in cases-of `high temperature the spoon could be removed from.

the larger quantity of material and the reading taken while some of the material is still inthe spoon. A Y E YVIn/the drawing: Y

Figurevl is a top plan View of thespoonem- .bodying my invention. Figure 2 is a side elevationof the spoon shown in Figure 1.

FigureB is a modified form of la one-piece thermorneter spoon.y

Figure 4 is a similarview in whichk the'bulb of the thermometer is near-the pointof the bowl of the spoon.r f

Figure 5 is a flat-wareplan view.

'I'he spoon ofmy invention'can beof any size or shape but I prefer that'the greater part, if not all, of the bulb of thethermometer shall be below the top level of ths bowl of the spoon, this quantity reaches the desired being 'illustrated in all four of the figures. In

Figure 1 the bowl l0 of the spoon is of vnormal size and shape throughout the outer half of the bowlbut in the inner half, that is, the portion 'adjacent the stem il; the bowl is' slightly enlarged to accommodate the bulb` I2 of the thermometer, the stem of which is the stem Il of the spoon which contains the usual capillary tube i4 in which may be seen as at l5 the top of the column of expansive material, usually mercury or colored-alcohol. f"

The stemll of the spoon may bevsubstantially cylindrical as vshown in Figures 1 and 2 but I rather prefer for ordinary use thatftheoutline of the spoon shallfbe in accordance with usual .snugly into the woodenf-handle .20 which allows vthe use of 'the'lspoonjin connection withv high temperatura-liquids'such, for` exampleuas in candy 'making or frying.' Whenthe devicejis to ybe use dfor'suchrjpurpos'es I find it `convenient Vtoniake'theientirespoon; except the handle 20,

of such ahighitemp'erature glass as'pyrexbut I practice, the spoon being narrowest at the point I6 andlgr'adually. widening to a `point such as I1 also find` it convenient to use 'a transparentunbreakable'materialthat can Abe molded. such-,f lfor In Figure 5 I have shownla modicationl which wouldl be Aused where the range :of temperature is sufllclently Small tolallow all ofthe, graduations 25 to be near the end of theV handle. The spoon in thismodificatiomlike the spoons of Figures 3 'and 4", follow vthe usual con'gurationof; a flatl 'ware spoonk irrespective .of the size', whether teaspoon; tablespoon:` or larger. K in this igure a method of building a spoon which I` have also'` shown willI sometimes befused.` Ordinarily, I prefer to blow `the capillary tube directly in the spoon; sometimes 'Ilwill'mold it so as to have the tube vor bore, and sometimes, 'as seen in Figure 5, I 'will moldv the spoonj leaving a groove 26. The vthermometer tube, made inl ordinary way, can Athenbe laid in this tube and then be secured in place by-any usual method and nally be annealed, preferably so that there Will be no indication of the Way in which the spoon is made.

In all of the examples illustrated the bulb is in the bowl of the spoon, the bulb l 2 in Figures 1 and 2 being adjacent the junction between the .2 stem and the bowl whereas the bulb 2 I in the flatware modication shown in Figure 3 is in the center of the bowl and the bulb 22 of the thermometer in the similar modification shown in Figure 4 is at the extreme tip 23 of the spoon, this latter form being particularly advantageous in cases where the depth of the larger quantity of liquid to be measured for temperature is relatively shallow as, for example, when the depthoi.' the liquid is only about half ofthe length o1' the bowl of the spoon. l. t

What I claim is:

1. A, combined thermometer and spoon, the bulb of the thermometer being in, and integral with the' bowl of the spoon and the capillary tube of the thermometer extending in, and integral with the stem of the spoon.

2. A combined spoon and thermometer, comprising a transparent body including integral handle stem and bowl portions, the bowl portion of said body being hollowed to provide a bulb for reception of a thermal expansive fluid and the handle stem portion being provided with a bore communicating with said bulb, calibrations provided on said handle stem portion along said bore, and a thermal expansive uid filling said bulb and extending in said bore.

- KARL J. MONRAD. 

